It's Never Too Early To Think About Player Of The Year
5. Corey Claitt, Utah Valley (LW: Unranked) - How exactly do you judge a good outing against a sub-Division I team? Claitt had two such performances last week, with 19 points, 4 assists, and 3 steals against Chadron and 18-6 against Southern Oregon. He makes this week's list because in the game before those, at Utah State, he went for 22 points, and he's shooting 39% from three-point range this season.
4. Carl Montgomery, Chicago State (LW: Unranked) - Four games for Montgomery since the last update, and two of them were huge: 27-12 against Olivet Nazarene and 23-8 against Wagner. The junior forward has four double-doubles this season. He remains one of my favorite Great West players.
3. Andrew Gonzalez, Houston Baptist (LW: 3) - Gonzalez struggled on the road against Boise State and Creighton; like Carl Montgomery and Mario Flaherty, however, his past performance warrants a one-week mulligan. He's a bit of a wild card right now, though, as the Huskies only play twice in the next three weeks.
2. Jordan Swarbrick, Utah Valley (LW: 2) - Not a great week for Swarbrick: 10 and 5 against Chadron, 12 and 9 with 3 steals against Southern Oregon. Two, admittedly, is probably a bit too high this week, but he's still a player that I feel was undervalued previously, so he gets a little bit of leeway for now.
1. Tyler Cain, South Dakota (LW: 1) - Probably does more stuff well, on both ends of the floor, than any other Great West player. He's managed to get his points the past couple times out despite shooting poorly (10-25) from the field. It's kind of ironic that three South Dakota players have won the Player of the Week award this season, but not Cain.
Awesome Name of the Week
Lafayette Yarbray, Utah Valley, forward, junior
I know Eric is addressing (and perhaps disproving) this with the God Shammgod list, but why is it that guys with cool names almost always spend most of their time on the bench? Maybe it makes sense in North Dakota, where coach Brian Jones possibly feels dissatisfied with the generic nature of his name, but that's not always the case.
Actually, in this case, it might be because Lafayette Yarbray is a transfer student from Denmark (SC) Technical College. He has appeared in three games, all against sub-Division I opponents, so I think he might not be eligible to play against D-I teams yet.
Whatever the reason, Lafayette Yarbray has a cool name. His first name is French in origin and seen much more often as a surname; his last name is English. The "Yarbray" family motto? Non est sine pulvera palma, which apparently translates to "The palm is not obtained without toil." Oh, and the family crest depicts a falcon preying on a cock pheasant, if you're interested in that sort of thing.
What was I talking about again?
Famous Alumni of the Great West
The Tech - Wally Schirra, astronaut
Schirra was a Navy pilot during World War II who was later chosen as a member of the Mercury Seven, America's first seven astronauts (the others? Alan Shephard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, and Deke Slayton). He made three trips into space as part of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.
Where They Play
NJIT: Fleisher Center
The Fleisher Center is a 1,500-seat facility in Newark that houses the school's basketball and volleyball teams. It was renovated in 2006, with future plans to double the seating capacity.
The full name of the Fleisher Center is the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Center. Seymour "Zoom" Fleisher, a 1951 graduate, played basketball at The Tech and is a member of the school's athletic Hall of Fame. In 2006, he was honored as the first recipient of the Herb M. Iris Award, which "honors exemplary leadership and support in the advancement of athletics at NJIT."
NJIT has also played home games at the $375 million Prudential Center in downtown Newark, a location that seats over 18,000 for basketball and is the full-time home for the New Jersey Devils and Seton Hall basketball team. It also helps with recruiting: head coach Jim Engles told STF in an interview last year, "It helps [kids] realize they're in Division I."
Great West Standings (as of Sunday, December 27)
South Dakota: 6-5
Utah Valley: 6-5
Chicago State: 5-7
NJIT: 3-8
Houston Baptist: 1-11
North Dakota: 1-12
Texas-Pan American: 1-12
Great West Single-Game Season Highs
31 points: Jake Thomas, South Dakota
17 rebounds: Carl Montgomery, Chicago State
9 assists: Michael Moss, Houston Baptist; Kendall Cutler, South Dakota
6 steals: Chris Flores, NJIT
4 blocks: Ryan Regis, NJIT; Sean McCarthy, NJIT
Upcoming Schedule
Monday, December 28
Utah Valley @ California
Northern Arizona @ Texas Pan-American
NJIT @ Wagner
Morehead St. @ South Dakota
Chicago State @ Samford
Tuesday, December 29
St. Olaf @ North Dakota
Wednesday, December 30
Polytechnic @ NJIT
Chicago State @ Southern
Official GWC Players of the Week
Week 1: Jordan Swarbrick, Utah Valley
Week 2: Mario Flaherty, Houston Baptist
Week 3: Jake Thomas, South Dakota
Week 4: Jordan Swarbrick, Utah Valley
Week 5: Mitchell Bouie, South Dakota Week
6: Steve Smith, South Dakota
5. Corey Claitt, Utah Valley (LW: Unranked) - How exactly do you judge a good outing against a sub-Division I team? Claitt had two such performances last week, with 19 points, 4 assists, and 3 steals against Chadron and 18-6 against Southern Oregon. He makes this week's list because in the game before those, at Utah State, he went for 22 points, and he's shooting 39% from three-point range this season.
4. Carl Montgomery, Chicago State (LW: Unranked) - Four games for Montgomery since the last update, and two of them were huge: 27-12 against Olivet Nazarene and 23-8 against Wagner. The junior forward has four double-doubles this season. He remains one of my favorite Great West players.
3. Andrew Gonzalez, Houston Baptist (LW: 3) - Gonzalez struggled on the road against Boise State and Creighton; like Carl Montgomery and Mario Flaherty, however, his past performance warrants a one-week mulligan. He's a bit of a wild card right now, though, as the Huskies only play twice in the next three weeks.
2. Jordan Swarbrick, Utah Valley (LW: 2) - Not a great week for Swarbrick: 10 and 5 against Chadron, 12 and 9 with 3 steals against Southern Oregon. Two, admittedly, is probably a bit too high this week, but he's still a player that I feel was undervalued previously, so he gets a little bit of leeway for now.
1. Tyler Cain, South Dakota (LW: 1) - Probably does more stuff well, on both ends of the floor, than any other Great West player. He's managed to get his points the past couple times out despite shooting poorly (10-25) from the field. It's kind of ironic that three South Dakota players have won the Player of the Week award this season, but not Cain.
Awesome Name of the Week
Lafayette Yarbray, Utah Valley, forward, junior
I know Eric is addressing (and perhaps disproving) this with the God Shammgod list, but why is it that guys with cool names almost always spend most of their time on the bench? Maybe it makes sense in North Dakota, where coach Brian Jones possibly feels dissatisfied with the generic nature of his name, but that's not always the case.
Actually, in this case, it might be because Lafayette Yarbray is a transfer student from Denmark (SC) Technical College. He has appeared in three games, all against sub-Division I opponents, so I think he might not be eligible to play against D-I teams yet.
Whatever the reason, Lafayette Yarbray has a cool name. His first name is French in origin and seen much more often as a surname; his last name is English. The "Yarbray" family motto? Non est sine pulvera palma, which apparently translates to "The palm is not obtained without toil." Oh, and the family crest depicts a falcon preying on a cock pheasant, if you're interested in that sort of thing.
What was I talking about again?
Famous Alumni of the Great West
The Tech - Wally Schirra, astronaut
Schirra was a Navy pilot during World War II who was later chosen as a member of the Mercury Seven, America's first seven astronauts (the others? Alan Shephard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, and Deke Slayton). He made three trips into space as part of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.
Where They Play
NJIT: Fleisher Center
The Fleisher Center is a 1,500-seat facility in Newark that houses the school's basketball and volleyball teams. It was renovated in 2006, with future plans to double the seating capacity.
The full name of the Fleisher Center is the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Center. Seymour "Zoom" Fleisher, a 1951 graduate, played basketball at The Tech and is a member of the school's athletic Hall of Fame. In 2006, he was honored as the first recipient of the Herb M. Iris Award, which "honors exemplary leadership and support in the advancement of athletics at NJIT."
NJIT has also played home games at the $375 million Prudential Center in downtown Newark, a location that seats over 18,000 for basketball and is the full-time home for the New Jersey Devils and Seton Hall basketball team. It also helps with recruiting: head coach Jim Engles told STF in an interview last year, "It helps [kids] realize they're in Division I."
Great West Standings (as of Sunday, December 27)
South Dakota: 6-5
Utah Valley: 6-5
Chicago State: 5-7
NJIT: 3-8
Houston Baptist: 1-11
North Dakota: 1-12
Texas-Pan American: 1-12
Great West Single-Game Season Highs
31 points: Jake Thomas, South Dakota
17 rebounds: Carl Montgomery, Chicago State
9 assists: Michael Moss, Houston Baptist; Kendall Cutler, South Dakota
6 steals: Chris Flores, NJIT
4 blocks: Ryan Regis, NJIT; Sean McCarthy, NJIT
Upcoming Schedule
Monday, December 28
Utah Valley @ California
Northern Arizona @ Texas Pan-American
NJIT @ Wagner
Morehead St. @ South Dakota
Chicago State @ Samford
Tuesday, December 29
St. Olaf @ North Dakota
Wednesday, December 30
Polytechnic @ NJIT
Chicago State @ Southern
Official GWC Players of the Week
Week 1: Jordan Swarbrick, Utah Valley
Week 2: Mario Flaherty, Houston Baptist
Week 3: Jake Thomas, South Dakota
Week 4: Jordan Swarbrick, Utah Valley
Week 5: Mitchell Bouie, South Dakota Week
6: Steve Smith, South Dakota
Thanks so much for putting this online.